Curt, a college professor, lives with his lover of several years, a pediatrician of Chinese descent named Lee. Eager to write, he receives a grant to take the summer off and work on a novel. Then Lee's mother calls -- she wants to visit. Curt is eager to meet her but Lee isn't so sure ... she's of a different generation, a different culture even, and doesn’t speak much English. Still, Curt insists.<br><br>But when Mrs. Gui arrives, Curt finds himself struggling with writer’s block. He feels like an outsider in his own home when Lee and his mother converse in Cantonese, leaving him out of the conversation, and even his sex life suffers with her in the bedroom next to theirs. Can Curt and Mrs. Gui move past their cultural differences to see that they both love Lee and have his best interests at heart?

Just What the Doctor Ordered

I shrugged, pleased that she had bothered to ask even if she didn’t really care to know. “It’s going. Whether it’s any good or not I’ll worry about later. I just have to write it out first.”


She nodded, but I couldn’t tell if she understood what I meant or was just trying to understand. Down the street, a squeal of air brakes told me the bus was on its way. Curious, I asked, “How did you find the bus stop?”


The simplicity of her answer made me grin. “Just walked out and what, stopped the first person you saw? Hey you, where’s the bus?” 


Her faint smile grew stronger and she looked down with an almost embarrassed, girlish air.


“Is that how you planned to find the market, too? Ask any Asians you might stumble across? Which way to the Hong Kong Safeway?”


Without answering, she opened her purse and pulled out a colorful piece of paper folded into a small square. 


Chapter 29